A Way to Find a Friend
by KuroHime27
Summary: Five year after his disappearance, Sai's been given a chance to visit Hikaru. But Hikaru can no longer hear his voice. So, with the assistance of Natsume Takashi and the cat Nyanko-sensei, Sai's out to find Hikaru! Crossover with Natsume Yujinchou
1. Chapter 1

A/N lol lol lol! (I'm being weird) My first Hikago _and_ Natsume yuujinchou fic! Oh boy oh boy! I always want to find a way to make a crossover fic for the reunion between Hikaru and Sai, after selecting a few character as their medium, I finally choose Natsume! XD XD

Disclaimer: I don't own both!

Oh... Grammar...

**THE WAY TO FIND A FRIEND**

_'Hikaru!'_

_'Can you hear my voice?'_

_'Hikaru...'_

_'Hikaru...'_

_'Hikaru...'_

'_The one that got into my room that night was a very…'_

'_Very…Pretty… '_

'…_Pretty person…'_

Natsume Takashi was getting ready to bed when a very _very _angelic man wearing heian era costume appeared in his bedroom. His lucky cat-shaped so-called guardian, Nyanko-Sensei was snoring loudly at his side, a little stench of alcohol can be smelt from his breath. Surely, the feline spirit had just drunk the night away on some youkai drinking party and fell asleep at _9 PM in the afternoon_. What kind of party is that?

The man's white kimono and pale complexion glistened with the moonlight, contrasting to the rich, long black hair he had, making the sight of the man as ethereal as ever.

"I need your help… Natsume Takashi-kun…" That man whispered with a soft, calm voice.

"An… Ayakashi…?" Natsume breathed out, finally able to find his voice.

It was not unusual for a spirit to come asking for something of this time of night, but Natsume has never seen a youkai or spirit with a very pure light coming from them before. Maybe… This man's a local god or something? That's possible…

The man did not answer to Natsume's question, he kept his amethyst eyes to Natsume's golden ones pleadingly, silently asking for help.

"Sensei…? Oi… Nyanko-Sensei?"

Strangely, his guardian cat wasn't even disturbed from his sleep at the appearance of the spirit. Feeling a little bit irritated, a small vein popped out of his forehead

"Wake up you cat!" Natsume nested his spirit-power induced fist on the cat's head, effectively waking his bodyguard up,

"WHAT THE HELL NATSUME? HOW DARE YOU DO THAT… MMMFFFFLLL!" The boy quickly muffled the noisy cat's mouth, fearing that he might woke Natsume's guardians up. Meanwhile the stranger was staring at those two with big interest than he finally let out a chocked laugh

"Huh…? Something's funny you girly-man? Who's this weirdo over here Natsume?"

"That's what I was going to ask you… You're usually pretty sensitive about intruders… He's definitely not human… Is he an Ayakashi or a youkai or something?"

The stranger pouted childishly, eyes wide and sparkling with unshed tears, breaking the entire mature and calm image that Natsume had of him before and squeaked, "How mean! I'm definitely not an Ayakashi nor a Youkai! Huhuhu… HUAAAA!" He shouted when he realized that Nyanko was sniffing at his feet, particularly, the cat surprised him.

Nyanko-Sensei hopped back to Natsume's side once more and purred lightly as Natsume scratched his forehead, "So? Sensei?"

"The reason I didn't notice him before was because… He's not vengeful at all…"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I sense Ayakashi and Youkai that's trying to get near you by sensing their greed, their dark aura and intention. And this wimp over here, has none…"

"A… Peaceful spirit…?" "Yup that's the case" Nyanko yawned

"Yes! I'm not bad at all!" The stranger beamed, obviously happy at Nyanko's words

Natsume and Nyanko sweatdropped at the spirit's cheerful antique. When a spirit visits them, they're usually not this… er… weird.

"Well… How can we help you? Did my grandmother steal your name? Do you want me to get it back?" Natsume got up to reached for his book of friends.

"Oh… No! That's not the reason I'm here tonight…" The stranger stopped Natsume and looked down sadly, "I need… Help… For something else… My time's limited…"

* * *

So, the next day, after quickly asking for permission and direction to go to Tokyo for a quick trip to spend his Golden Week holiday from Shigure-san and Touko-san, Natsume departed from his small town by express train at 6 in the morning bringing a backpack with change clothes, toiletries, and other stuff. And of course, his precious book of friends. The train was still empty, so he sat by the window, Nyanko-sensei (with a lot of opposition from the youkai) was safely put in a carrier cage, cats are not allowed to enter the train without that. The spirit, whom had introduced himself as Fujiwara no Sai sat on the seat beside him, humming happily at the sound of the train.

FLASHBACK

"Okay… Let me repeat your story again… So you were cheated on a game of Go and died hundreds year ago and your spirit stuck at this world because your obsession to the board game, making you possessed some boy and gave birth to the legendary player of the game in the whole Japan?" Said Nyanko-Sensei

"Yup!"

"And after that boy's death you waited in his board and years later this Hikaru guy found you?" Natsume finished it

"Uh-uh"

"So now this Hikaru's a successful player, and he let you played the strongest player in Japan now and your spirit finally went to heaven because you had achieved the 'hand of God'?" Nyanko started talking again

"That's right!"

"And… Why are you here right now if you had passed already?" Natsume and Nyanko said in the same time

"Well you see…. It's been 5 year since I passed to the other world, so the Gods up there said I'm allow to go to this world to visit Hikaru for 5 days!"

"And… Why are you _here_ I mean…"

Sai stopped his cheerful laugh and frown, "Well you see…. Hikaru… Can no longer see my form anymore… My voice can't reach him anymore…"

Natsume widened his eyes, "He… Lost his ability to see spirits?"

"Oh… Hikaru's different from you Takashi-kun… The Gods said that my existence to Hikaru was only for guiding him to achieve his way to Go… So… I've done my part in his live… So there's no other reason for the Gods to give him the ability to see and hear me anymore…"

"I see…" Natsume said bitterly, silently feeling sad to Sai _and _his boy. The memory of Hotaru the firefly youkai replayed in his mind, reminding him of the bittersweet story.

"So… What brought you here to me Sai?"

"Well… You see, Takashi-kun… I was sad, and my mind was empty, and suddenly I found myself at the forest near this village. I met a cow and a one-eyed youkai. They said to come here to meet Natsume-sama!"

'_Those twoo!'_

END OF FLASHBACK

"Hey! Hey! Takashi-kun! How long will it take to Hikaru's town?" asked Sai excitedly

"Ah… It takes half a day from my town to Tokyo... So… We'll be there… At 12 PM, I guess" Natsume whispered quietly, trying to avoid other patron's confusion

"Aaaawwww… It takes too long! This's my second day! I only have 4 days now Takashi-kuuuuun….." Sai whined, he hid his face with his kimono's sleeves, as if he was crying

Natsume smiled weakly when Nyanko's growl came from the cat carrier, "Shut up you wimp! You should've thanks Natsume for taking this long trip just for you! Stop whining!"

"Oh, little kitty, are you getting tired? Is that why you're so grumpy kitty? Oh poor you, it must've been tiring to be trapped in that small cage…" Said Sai, without a bad intention

"HEY! ARE YOU PICKING A FIGHT?"

Natsume sighed at Sai and Nyanko-sensei, silently thanking his choice of getting into the last car, where there's small number of people.

* * *

"SHIBUYA STATION! SHIBUYA STATION!"

"Do we get off here Takashi-kun?"

"Umm… Yeah, let's go!" Natsume got off the train and looked around the crowded platform. The Shibuya station was big, much more bigger then the stations at his town. To reach here, they've changed train thrice. It was a pretty long trip; Natsume cracked his back and started looking for exit,

"Where do we go from here Natsume?" Nyanko-sensei said, still in his carrier

"Okay… Hmmm…. Hhhh…" Natsume stared at the note with the direction to Tokyo's Go Institute that Shigeru-san gave him. But he couldn't get to understand Shigeru's little map of the station. The boy sighed and said, "Let's just ask the… ARGH!"

"NYREEEEOOOW!" shouted Nyanko as his carrier flung to the ground

Natsume bumped into a black haired preteen boy until they both fell onto the ground. The boy wore a magenta long-sleeves shirt with a short sleeves green vest over it; a blue baseball cap covered most of his face. He jumped up, and took the cat carrier, peeking inside it for a bit and reached his hand out to help Natsume up from the ground,

"I'm so so sorry! I wasn't looking before! I hope the kitty's okay!" he said apologetically, and handed him Nyanko's carrier. For just a sec, his stare flew from Natsume's eyes to an empty space beside the teenager, the space where Sai was, looking at the long-haired man carefully.

"No… It's my fault… I was the one's that spacing out… I'm sorry…"Natsume bowed quickly. The boy answered his bow by doing it himself a few times, while keep apologizing to the young man.

"I'm in a hurry! I'm so sorry I gotta go!" the boy was going to run again, but Natsume stopped him

"…Ah! Wait! Do you where's the way here?" Natsume showed him Shigure-san's note. The boy took a quick glance to the note and pointed out a staircase that would lead them to their way out, "Just took that exit! I'm so sorry… I really have to go!" Then, like a flash the boy ran to an almost-closed elevator full of kids.

"Okay! Thanks!" Natsume shouted, but the boy didn't hear him. Natsume, Sai, and Nyanko stared at the boy. The elevator's closed already and the boy ran quickly to the stairs beside it.

Natsume let his mind out of that boy, "Let's go Sai! We're going this way!"

Sai and Nyanko were still staring at the way where that boy left

"What's wrong?" "Takashi-kun… That boy…"

"What? He can see you can't he? He stared at you for a sec before"

"Yes… That's correct but…"

"Natsume, that boy has a different scent as other humans"

"Sensei… Whaddya mean?" asked Natsume, not understanding of what's the spirits were talking about

"Well… I don't know about the smell that the kitty's saying about, but he definitely felt different…"

"Huh? I'm seriously not getting it you guys!"

"It means… Takashi-kun… Uuummm…" Sai stuttered, he seemed to avoiding Natsume's eyes

"His death's near, Natsume…"

"WHAT?"

Suddenly a loud cry was heard from the distance. People starting to run to that direction, wondering what did happen, "A boy fell from the stairs! He's badly injured!" Natsume heard shouts. He widened his eyes and his face paled. If he didn't stop that boy before he wouldn't have to run down the stairs…

"Let's go Natsume"

"It's not your fault Takashi-kun…"

His friends' voice startled him, "…Bu…"

"Natsume. We've gotta hurry. This wimp only got 3 and half more days remember? That kid's death it's not your matter. Let's go!" Nyanko-sensei said firmly

"…Umm… Yes… Sorry Sai. Let's go"

* * *

Natsume, finnaly got rid of the blue-capped boy from his mind, now was standing in front of the Go institute with Nyanko-Sensei perching at his shoulder and Sai by his side. Natsume had put the carrier in a paid locker at the station.

"So… Is this the place you wimp?" Nyanko said

"Yup! I'm sure of it!"

"Okay, let's give it a try shall we?"

Natsume entered the building and walked straight to the receptionist.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Shindou Hikaru-san, is he available for the moment?" asked Natsume with his most charming smile, capturing the heart of the young receptionist successfully.

"Ah! Ummm…. Shindou-san… Right now… He… Eeeerrrr…" The young woman stuttered at the sparkling bishounen before her while trying to hide her blush with her book

"Shindou's out of town." A soft voice came from behind. Natsume turned around, found a young man, in his early twenties with spiky hair with an older man with a calm and soft expression,

"Look Isumi-san! A cat!"

Sai suddenly beamed at the sight of the man,

"Ah! Waya-kun! He's grown so tall! Isumi-kun too! Wow! It's been too long!" obviously, this Waya person can't hear a thing the spirit had said.

"Re… Really? Do you know where he is right now?" Natsume said

Waya was sticking out his finger to Nyanko-sensei and swirled it around, trying to get the cat's attention,

"Shindou's at Innoshima right now" 'Isumi' said

"Innoshima? At the Hiroshima prefecture?" Natsume asked in disbelief. Sai was widening his eyes as well.

Both of the young men nodded. Natsume groaned and slapped his forehead

"Shindou's always spent his golden week holiday there. Don't know why" Waya said, still playing with the cat. Nyanko-sensei, with all of his might was trying to catch Waya's finger.

"I think he's visiting Honinbo Shusaku's grave Waya"

"Might be"

"O… Okay… then… Thanks for your help" Natsume bowed to the men after stopping abruptly Waya and Nyanko's little game. He made his way to the exit, not before bowing politely to the lady at the receptionist.

After they're out of the building, Natsume sighed, "So? What now? Sai?"

"Takashi-kun… I guess… You don't have to take me there… It's way too far from here… I don't want to bothe…"

"Well you already bothered us didn't you huh Wimp?"

Natsume reached for Sai's head and patted it gently, "I already promised that I'll help you talk to Hikaru didn't I? Don't worry about that. Let's go to your Hikaru"

Sai's eyes were wet with tears hearing Natsume's word. Slowly, he bowed his head, hiding his face behind his sleeves and whispered chockingly, "Thank you so much… Takashi-kun…"

TBC

A/N: I had no idea which town does Natsume live with the Fujiwara's or if the train from there get to the Shibuya Station or not… :P

P.S Can you guess the boy that Natsume bumped into at the station? Lol! R&R!

P.P.S about the 5s (5 year, 5 days) If you not already know, the day where Sai disappeared was May 5th, and Go can also means 'five' (that's why Hikaru has lots of shirts with the number five on them, maybe) so yeah,


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

The twenty-year-old Shindou Hikaru walked along the quiet graveyard of Innoshima, carrying a large bouquet of wisteria in one arm and a bucket of water and incenses in the other. His best friend and rival, Touya was walking behind him, silently wondering where do the smiles and laughter that Shindou had on their way to Innoshima Island.

Since his disappearance from the Igo world five year ago, Shindou has visited Honinbo Shusaku's grave regularly every year, right on the Golden Week holiday. Touya never asked him for the reason, but he thought it would be nice to visit this place with Shindou this year. Who knows, maybe Shindou would finally tell him his secret.

Shindou Hikaru kept walking through the maze of tombstones to the final resting place of his idol, as he already memorized it by heart through his yearly visits. Finally, they arrived at the legendary player's grave.

Without words, the multi-colors haired boy knelt and gently cleaned the tomb with the clean water from the bucket while Touya lit the incenses carefully. After that, they both were silent with their prays for the late Shusaku.

'_Torajiro… Please tell him… I really really miss… '_

'_I envy you so much Torajiro… You get to be with him for eternity now… I…. I…'_

"Shindou? You okay?" Touya touched his shoulder

"Ah? Sorry Touya…"

"No problem… Ready to go?"

"Un… Yeah… Let's go…"

Hikaru and Akira left the grave, heading back to their hotel, without knowing a long-haired spirit kneeling behind them with sad expression in his face.

* * *

Natsume was in the bus heading to Innoshima Island, Nyanko-sesnsei slept on his lap, purring slightly as his master absent-mindedly stroked him on the forehead. Sai, wanting to find Hikaru as soon as possible had teleported himself to Innoshima.

"Ne, Sensei.."

"Hmm?"

"How did Reiko-san died?"

"Why do you ask now?"

"Well… I've always knew… Death is something that's inevitable… But… Listening to Sai's story… And that boy at the station… I was just…"

"You wanna know about hers?"t

"Yeah… She was strong… Right? Very strong…"

"All humans will die Natsume…. Sooner or later…"

"I know that… But… Will youkai…?"

"We will, Natsume. We ages much more slower than humans do, but we will die in some point."

"Oh…" Natsume frowned sadly, avoiding Nyanko's eyes

"Reiko… Died of illness when she was young…"

"Illness?"

"But… It… Wasn't a human illness Natsume…"

"Could it be…."

"She was cursed by a Youkai when she was distracted… Just after she gave birth to your father"

"Giving birth? What do you mean?"

"Well, you wouldn't understand, but for a woman like Reiko, the most vulnerable times when your spiritual power decreased to the lowest point, is when they're in labor"

"So… That youkai attacked her?"

"That's right…"

Natsume bit his lower lip, suddenly; he felt Nyanko nuzzled his head gently to his stomach,

"Stop thinking of unimportant things now Natsume. I won't die before you do. The Book of Friends' mine remember?"

The boy smiled softly and hugged the cat, "Yeah… Thanks Sensei…"

* * *

'_Hikaru! I'm here! I'm here! Can't you hear me? Please Hikaru…'_

Hikaru was alone in his and Touya's two beds room, Touya's in the bathroom right now, so Hikaru lays on his bed and sighed tiredly, oblivious to the energetic spirit by his side.

'_Hikaru… Can you really not hear me…?'_

'_Hikaru…'_

Slowly, a dark aura appeared on Sai's back

'_Hikaru… Why wont you answer me?'

* * *

_

Suddenly, a jolt of chill surprised Natsume from the back of his neck, he realized something was definitely wrong,

"Sensei!"

"Hmph! The wimp's aura has started to darken… Natsume we got to hurry before it's too late…"

"Sensei, can you track where he is now?"

"He's a little far, Natsume let's get off from this bus. I'll get there faster!"

"EXCUSE ME! STOP THIS BUS! I'M GETTING OFF HERE!" Natsume yelled to the driver, surprising other patrons

"What's wrong young men?" asked a lady at the front

"Are you okay? I couldn't stop here; it's in the middle of nowhere! It's already dark outside, couldn't you wait? We'll be there in…"

"I SAID STOP THE BUS! I NEED TO GET OUT HERE!"

The driver finally opened the bus door, letting both of them out of the bus. After the bus' gone, a gust of smoke appeared and a great, big silvery white feline youkai appeared in the place of the fat little cat.

"C'mon Natsume! Get on!"

Natsume hopped onto Sensei's back and Madara flung himself into the sky.

* * *

'_How dare you ignore me… Hikaru… Hikaru! Hikaruu!'_

Hikaru was walking around silently the swimming pool of the hotel, trying to calm his mind down.

Beside him, Sai was silently following him. The dark aura surrounding grew bigger and wider, darker, darker, deeper, deeper. Starting from the edge of his sleeves, his white clean kimono slowly turning black, slowly, his purple eyes turned dark red.

At that time, Hikaru stopped for a while at the edge of the water. He took off his shoes and socks, and dipped his toes. In 5 minutes, Hikaru found his jeans rolled up to his knees as he sat at the edge, foot dangling in the water. The young men sighed.

"…Sai…"

The spirit jerked at the sound of his name coming from his favorite boy's lips, then he realized, though his lips were curved into a smile, Hikaru's eyes were wet in tears, gradually, his dark intention decreased

'_Hikaru…'_

"Sai… I miss you…"

'_Hikaru!'_

"What… What am I talking about…? Sai…"

'_Hikaru I'm here! Please!'_

"You're in peace now right….?"

'_Hikaru!'_

"Sai…"

'_Hikaru! Hikaru!'_

'_HIKARU!' _Sai's dark aura appeared again, growing rapidly from every corner of his body

'_Hikaru…'_

"SAI!" a voice of a boy cried out, breaking the silence of the night. Hikaru's ear perked at the sound of the name and he started to look around frantically. And suddenly, his vision was blurred by a strong gust of wind, as if something's big and _invisible_ had just landed and on that _something_ a teenagers with hair and eyes of gold sat, no, it was more like he was _riding _something. His eyes were wide and he was grasping for breath.

The boy hopped from his invisible ride and ran towards Hikaru, "SAI!" the stranger ran past him and stopped at an empty space behind him, the boy held out both of his hands, as if holding a pair of shoulders of someone that was also _invisible_. Then Hikaru realized, on the place where the boy landed, a small and fat cat, looking a lot of the lucky cat figures, was there. The cat hopped to the golden haired boy's shoulder, and _talked_

"Natsume! It's too late! You'll have to exorcise him soon! He's turning darker!"

"No! Sai! Sai! Stop it! Listen to me!" The boy shouted

"Sa… Sai…?" Hikaru squeaked, disbelieving his ears

The boy finally turned to Hikaru and shouted, "Look Sai! Your precious Hikaru's here! You have to calm down! If it goes like this, you'll turn into an Ayakashi!"

Hikaru's feet were clattering. He didn't understand what the boy and his talking cat were talking about, but he's sure that they have something to do with Sai.

* * *

In Natsume's vision, Sai was kneeling on the ground with his hands on his head and screaming loudly in pain. The darkness on his white clothes had reached his shoulders, symbolizing the progress of his transformation into an Ayakashi. Natsume was holding Sai in his arms, trying to calm the spirit down

"Hi… Hikaru…" Sai was moaning his best friend's name in pain. He reached out one of his hand to the young man, but Hikaru could not see him. Natsume grasped Sai's hand in his and shouted,

"COME HERE SHINDOU-SAN! PLEASE! SAI NEEDS YOU!"

"Wha…?"

"HE'S IN PAIN! IF WE DON'T CALM HIM SOON, HE'LL TURN INTO AN AYAKASHI AND WE'D HAVE TO KILL HIM! COME HERE DAMN IT!"

Being yelled by an unknown teenager approximately four year younger than him, Hikaru walked nervously to where the boy knelt and kneeled in front of the boy's extended hand,

"His hand's in mine, he's been trying to reach and touch you before…" Natsume said and he reached out his hand for Hikaru to hold.

"Sa… Sai…? Is he really here…?" Hikaru held up his trembling hands to touch Natsume's hand and was surprise when he felt a very soft tint of warmth between his hand and Natsume's. As if an invisible hand was there between their hands.

The warmth was weak, but Hikaru could definitely feel it, and from the soft breeze, he can slightly sense a scent of wisteria

"Sai! Sai! You're here aren't you? Wha… What happened? What's happening to him? Is he alright?" Hikaru asked Natsume frantically, still holding Sai's invisible warmth.

Natsume was not listening to Hikaru. He was busy trying to find something from his backpack. When he found it he bit the ofuda that he had just found in his mouth and clapped both of his hands once, holding onto the position. The boy closed his eyes and chant a spell

"_O the holy light of the god Tsukiyomi that lit up the dark sky tonight I plead to you to help this lost soul purified the darkness in his heart with you gentle guidance!"_

Suddenly, the moon and the stars shone very brightly simultaneously, and when the light started to dim, Sai was pure once more. The spirit was seemingly unconscious in a deep sleep.

Natsume fell back and balanced himself with his arms sighing tiredly. Nyanko-sensei was right by his side,

"Oi are you alright Natsume?"

"Yeah, just a little tired"

"You idiot! I didn't think you were gonna actually used the spell Natori taught you before!"

"Haha… Well it worked didn't it?"

"Umm… Excuse me…?" Hikaru's voice broke their tension. They both turned to the Go player

"What… Are you guys…?"

TBC

A/N chapter two! I'm glad to have finished this chapter XD I wanna make the 'first reunion' of Sai and Hikaru as dramatic as possible, that's when the idea of making dark!Sai OOC much..? lol… Touya doesn't have much part in this chapter huh? Well he will in the next chapter! R&R

P.S Ayakashi is a vengeful spirit :p


End file.
